Marine life-saving apparatus.



i, KONRAD MARNE UFE SAVING APPARATUS,

APPUHJHQN un miA 5, 19:5.

4 SHKUS Hi-4.5i' 4,

5MM... 12W/ifi Gum M JOSEF KONRAD, 0F SPOKANE, WASHINGTON.

MARINE LIFE-SAVING APPARATUS.

Application led April 5, 1915.

1b /z/ clio/lz it may concern.'

ie it known that l. Josnr l\'o.\'n.\o, a citizen of the l'vnited States, residing at Spokane. in the county of Spokane and State of vashingtorh have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Marine Life-Saving Apparatus. of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in marine life saving apparatus and it is one of the special objects of this invention to provide a life saving apparatus whereby one or more of the pasrengers or occupants of a sunken ship may be bodily elevated therefrom to the surface of the water and thereafter taken on board of a rescuing vessel.

A further novel feature consists in providing a ship with a habitable air tight housing into which the occupants of a` sinking ship mav enter and be preserved in safety' notwithstanding the fact that thc ship may be sinking beneath the surface of the water.

further object of the invention is to equip the ship with an air supplying buoy which mounted in such a manner that it will be free to float upon the water surface as the injured ship descends therebelow and which will function as an air supplying intake lo the. injured and sinking ship.

further object of the invention is to connect. the air supplying buoy with the air tight; housing by means of a hollow cable o-r hose like conduit adapted to convey air from the buoy to the housing` and in this connection. it is a feature of the invention to provide operative means in the air tight housing for positively drawing a required supply of air downwardly thereinto.

My invention also includes a rescue container into which one or more of the ship wreck victims may enter to be bodily conveyed to the surface of the water, and in this connection, it isa feature of my invention to connect the container' with the housing by a rescue line and windlass or like. means whereby the container may not only be permitted to rise from the housing to the water surface but whereby it may also be, withdrawn from the water surface down and into said housing.

it is also a feature of the invention to connect the buoy with the rescue container by means of a captive or guiding line or cable which is adapted'to be carried by the buoy into an accessible position with respect to the Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 16, 1916.

serial No. 19,271.

surface of the water so that a grapple hook mechanism may be slid down such captive line and into connection withthe container so as to permit the latter to be positively hoisted to the surface by a rescuing vessel.

My improved buoy is also equipped with signals and communicating devices which are connected through the hollow air supplying conduit or hose with the interior of the air tight housing in such a. manner as to permit the, occupants of the latter to operate and utilize and otherwise transmit communication through said signal devices to the rescuing` party.

My invention includes many other objects and features of construction which will be more fully described in connect-ion with the accompanying drawings and which will be .more particularly pointed out in and by the appended claims.

In the drawings: Figure l a view in elevation showing a sunken ship equipped with the device of my invention and illustrating the manner in which a. rescuing vessel utilizes suchdevice to rescue the shipwrecked victims, Fig. 2 is a longitudinal vertical sectional view of the air tight. housing with which a ship or vessel is to be equipped. Fig. 3 is a sectional view on line l--l of Fig. 2, Fig. 4 is a sectional view on linel -l-l of Fig. 2, Fig. 5 is a vertical sectional View' of my improved buoy, Fie'. (l is au enlarged sectional view of the upper portion of my improved rescue container showing the manner in which the grapple hook is connected therewith to hoist thoy container by the hoisting cable to thc rescuing vessel, Fig. T is an enlarged vertical sectional view of a portionof a partition and van improved manhole by means of which the air tight housing is divided olf into a rescue containci Lzoinpartment and by means of which door access' is possible from said compartnunt to the inlerior of said housing and vice versa.

Like characters' of refercnce designate similar parts throughout the dill'crent'lligurosof the drawings.

As illustrated. l-"designates a sunken ship resting at the bottom of a body of wateiZ. Il designates the wat-er surface. upon which a reselling vessel 4 is floating in supcrposed relation with the sunken ship.

Upon a suitable deck 5, of a ship is mounted in securely anchored relation my inrproved air and water tight habitable houslthe bottom of compartment il.

ing for direct engagement of the hooks of a grapple. In the interior of the grapple head or connecting portion Tt) is connected at 72 the lower end of a guiding or captive line or cable 73. Said captive cable T3 is trained about a vertically disposed drum 71 and its remailfiing` end is connected at T5, in a detachable manner. to the upper end of the buoy. An intermediate fastening;r hook TG may be provided for the cable T3 near thc lower end ot' the board.

Now as the sinking ship descend@4 from the floating,r buoy it will be noted that the ship is not only connected with the buoy through the hose 2G. for signaling and communicating purposes. but that also said buoy is connected to the rescuing container by line 73. Now after a buoy hasl been located by the rescuing party and after telephonie comlnunication has been established with the victims` of ship wreck in Safety chamber S, line T?) will be detached from the buoy and will be threaded through a bore 7T of a grapple head To. (rapple head 7S iS providedkwith a connecting portion T9 for attachment to a hoisting cable St), with which the rescuing vessel will be provided. lloisting cable is shown trained about a windlass S1 on the rescuing vessel l. The grapple is provided with grapple hook y Q2 which are hinged at Sil to the grapple head TS and which are held in preiletermined spaced relation b v luga` H1 o that the grapplc hooksr will take over and engage lange T1 as shown in Fig. (i. 'l`hu after the grap-- ple head has been threaded onto line T3 it will descend thereon and be guided thereby into coupling relation with grapple head itl thereby establishing hoisting connection bc tween the rescuing vessel and the rescuing elevating container tt' so that the occupants of the latter can be elevated from the sunken ship to the water ani-fare and taken on boar-l the rcacuing vessel.

YMeans is provided for withdrawing or lowering the container into compartment Sl for the purpose of rendering thc container accessible for rescue of another of the occupants of sa fety chamber o'. s illustrated. a lowering cable S5 is connected with a container at no and is trained about a windings NT which is mounted or Iiournalml at in crank S11 extends through partition T. by means of a Suitable packing gland Slo so that the windlass HT may be operated from safety chamber S. l desire to make the container till of rounder formation near its lower end, as indicated at 91 so that it will readily be drawn through opening (l5. Access to the safety chamber S is gained through a man hole 92 which is provided with a cover or closure 93 which is hinged to the housing o at 94. A hook 15, mounted at flo. may be applied to an eye J7 to hold the door or cover 93'in an open position, as shown in dotted lines in Fig. 3. A bolt 98 is connected with said door and a hand wheel 99 serves to maintain :said door in a tightly closed position in a nlanner bimilar to the construction Shown 11a Fig. 7. It will now be .seen how access is gained to the safety compartment 8 and thence to the container chamber il and it will also be noted that` the two chamber@l are normally maintained in air tight sub-dbision with respect to each other.

Reference will now be made to the con- 1truction of the rescue container ($6 to illustrate the manner in which an occupant may enter and close the mime.

The bottom of said container (Sti is pr0- vided with an opening 100 which is closed by a lower head 101 having threaded engagement with said opening, Said head lol provided with a hand wheel rim 102 wherebv it may be opened from the exterior of l aid container 'it by a person lo :ated in compartment tl. Said head is al -o provided with a rigidly mountedl interiorly projecting hand wheel 1023 by means of which the head 101 nlay be cloaed or opened by an occupant in container lti. It will be understood, that the occupant upon entering container tt may remo\e the head 101 by graaping hand rim 1112 and kthat after the occupant has entered the container ('t one of the other victims may clonx the head 101. However, when the la t of the victims enters the Container Gti he will close the same b v means of hand wheel 102', Interiorly the container G15 is provided with a foot rest flange V#104 ou which the occupant may .stand after enter ing the container4 The container may be Vuitably uphobtered. as indicated at 10.3 and a aaddle ltll' may be provided, together with the hanger strap llli', for convenience of the occupant. It will be understood that while the container is substantially ailI tight the occupant will not be compelled to remain therein l'or a aullicient length ot time to cause dotre duc to lack of oxygen.

Occasion may reduire an immediate Supply otI air lauch a the pump 1-` could not in- .\tantl v L\uppl v and therefore l equip the -afety chamber S with a plurality of air lanka 1W. lilled with compressed air under high pressure and supported in any desirable manncr by |nean uch aa a strap bracket ltltl. Pipes` 1111 lead trom the tanks Illato a manifold 111 and each pipe 110 has interposed therein a controllingr valve lli). A\ valve lll is provided for sudden admission of air to a fcty chamber S. in cahcs w here e\cn re\er al or normal action of pump 1S docel not all'ord the required supply or in case of impairment of the apparatus etllcting operation thereof. Manifold 111 proiect into compartment fi. as indicated at 11i and the air supply to compartment t) i@ pants from the sunken ship to the surface, substantially as described.

7. In a marine life saving apparatus, a ship provided with a Water tight habitable housing, a buoy carried by said ship and being free to remain at the surface of the water after the ship -sinks,-a human container movable into said housin a line connected with said container an said buoy, and hoisting means at the surface coacting with said line for operative connection to hoist said container to the surface, substantially as described.

8. In a marine life saving apparatus, a ship provided with a water tight habitable housing, a human rescue container projectl ing into said housing, and having a grapple head, a buoy carried by said ship and being free to remain at the surface as the ship sinks, a guiding line connected with said container and buoy, and automatically acting hoisting grapple means at the surface for coaction with said guiding line to establish hoisting connection with said grapple head, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signa' turey in presence of two witnesses.

JOSEF KONRAD.

Vitnesses:

H. E. SMITH, EDXA BRoYLEs. 

